Journaling Week of 6-30-13

SPEAKING IN CHURCH

So we got to give our talks on Sunday. "Our Priceless Heritage" was the topic. I had had a frantic morning getting it ready without being able to use the computer much, nothing seemed to work, including the printer, so I wasn't able to type it out word for word like I like, and ended up just kind of winging it when I got up there. Which I still feel weird about, but oh well. I left out most of my talk simply because I was sick of standing up there in front of everyone crying and blubbering. Hopefully something I said mattered to someone and it was all worth it. I really need to cure myself of this fear!! It's ridiculous. Nate did an awesome job. As always. I'm glad he is the last speaker to represent our family. The kids sat with the Jacox's and they did SPECTACULAR!! Through the whole meeting! Jack cried when he heard me speaking, so they took him out, but other than that, they were perfect! I was so proud of them. 6-30-13


ROB AND HEATHER AND FAMILY

Monday night we got to have Rob and Heather come and make a pit stop at our house on their way to New Mexico. They came in time for FHE (Charity's lesson on Joseph Smith and the Sacrament- trying to fulfill some of her Faith in God requirements), our yummy brownies and ice cream treat, and then to play and play til midnight! They spent the night and then Heather made some delicious waffles for us for breakfast!! It was Miles' birthday so we gave him a little bag of candy, and sang to him. It was a lot of fun to have them. Always is. Kelly had her last physical therapy appointment that day as well.  We'll see how it goes without...  7-1-13

ENOCH, PEARL, CHARLIE and SAVANNAH
On Tuesday, Malisa brought Enoch for a sleepover with Bradley.  They had a lot of fun.  I hardly saw them once we picked out their little "bug catcher kit".  They were off hunting for bugs most of the day. 
Malisa also brought her dog, Pearl, for us to dog sit on Tuesday.  She will be with us for 10 days.  She seems like a pretty good dog, and she's been fun for Buddy to play with. 
Noah had been anxiously awaiting the day that Charlie could finally sleepover and I figured since Enoch was there, why not have Charlie too.  So he was finally able to come sleepover as well.  I was so surprised with how well it went!  Charlie was a good boy the whole time, then stayed up half the night with Charity watching shows (I didn't dare turn off the tv for fear that he would get bored, lonely, or scared and want to go home).  They both don't fall asleep during movies very well apparently.  So long night for them.  Then Charlie woke up early the next day with the big kids who had fallen asleep earlier than him.  He seemed to be having fun though.  We liked having him.  Noah was very pleased with how it went. 
While the boys were having their sleepovers, Charity and Kelly made a dance camp, took around fliers to ward members, called their friend Savannah, made up a few dances, and then had a fun late night with their new friend Savannah.  It sure seemed like they had fun.  I love when they find a good friend that they enjoy being with.  I like Savannah. 
That was a big day.  Fun.  But big.  7-2-13

BAKKE FIREWORKS
Every year for the past 3 or 4 years now, we have gathered at Stephanie's Mom's house for Chris' big fireworks display.  It's usually on the third.  This year we were really late because Nate and the kids lost track of time while they were swimming (I had stayed home to get some much needed housework done, laundry, dishes, laundry, dishes, it was a little insane how much there was of both, to do).  Once we finally got there we had yummy smoked ribs, and LOTS of watermelon.  The traditional homemade ice cream.  Everyone screams at Stephanie's brother's kids while ours run around looking like angels :).  It's really fun :).  They love the parachute ones, and chase those all over the neighborhood, fighting over the remains.  All of my kids sat and watched the big loud ones this year!!  Nobody was too scared and inside like years past!  I was so happy about that.  Charity was very proud of herself for facing her fears.  She was awesome!  Things got over pretty late, and it took a while to get cleaned up, so we didn't get Enoch home until around midnight.  And it was a quiet drive home for us, but what a fun evening!  7-3-13

INDEPENDENCE DAY!!!
We got up early to go to our new city's parade.  The Kaysville parade, unlike the Bountiful ones we've gone to in the past, was in the morning (well, middle of the day really), so it was SO HOT!!!  We were totally unprepared for the weather and well... for the whole parade.  We didn't forget our bags though!  It's like Halloween for the kids with how much candy they come home with!  It was similar to Bountiful's parade, lots of advertising.  But plenty of fun too.  And we were SO excited for the water fight at the end (we heard about it prior), and it did not disappoint!  HUGE trucks carrying tanks of water drove down the middle of the street following the parade and just hosed down the entire crowd!!  It was incredible!!  The big kids ran ahead to get drenched, while I stayed back with Noah, Erika and Jack (not big fans of getting wet).  When Nate got back to us, I handed off Jack and begged Noah to come be fun with me.  I told him we would just get a little wet.  I thought we could get up close and stand under the big streams of water and just get the drops/mist from it all.  Well, I couldnt' have been more wrong!!  We got out there and some funny guy on the top of the truck pointed his big hose at us!!!  THen kept it on us as we tried to run away!  I grabbed Noah and we both screamed our way back to the side of the road, but we were completely soaked!!!!  It was hilarious really, but Noah was mad.  Erika had gotten a few squirts in the face, directly, so she was a little bugged too, but I was just laughing.  Nate was the last one to get wet.  Some kid from the High School truck came running over with tthis little bowl full of water and just chucked the water at Nate while his back was turned.  It was really funny!  I could tell it took a lot for Nate to just smile about it, but seriously, very funny... So lots of fun for everyone :).  We all got fried again.  No sunblock again.  Worst.  mom.  ever. 
After the parade we went to IMC to visit Nate's Mom.  She just had her hip replaced.  She looked SO GOOD!!  I really couldn't believe how good she looked!  SHe was up, she'd been doing some physical therapy, and it had only been 24 hours since the surgery!!  Amazing.  Hopefully she continues to recover well, and can go get her other hip replaced.  I think both sides had completely shattered and were causing such intense pain that even with the pain of recovering she is probably still in less pain than she was.  Or so we hear. 

We came home from the hospital with the plans to go to the Kaysville city carnival, but everyone was so tired, and sleeping that we just stayed home.  We had been invited to our neighbor's little fireworks show for the evening, so we grabbed our watermelon and kabobs and made our way down to their house for the bbq and the big show.  I must say, I was really grateful for a fun evening with new friends, and it meant a lot that they were trying to make us feel welcome and stuff, but I have to say, I was totally uncomfortable the entire evening.  It was fun, don't get me wrong, I just don't know how many evenings of "seven kids!" comments I can really take.  We'll have to see how it goes next time (if there is one and we didn't scare them too much with our freakishness).  We have more than double the number of kids everyone else has.  So... anyway... Their fireworks show was a lot of fun too. 
Happy 4th of July to us!!!  7-4-13

MAYNES FAMILY CELEBRATION
I'm not sure why, but Nate's family did their thing the next day.  We went to Fairmont Park out in Sugarhouse.  We got there earlier in the afternoon, had some picnic lunch and then played for the next like 3 hours before the dinner was to start.  We had brought our yummy watermelon to share (yes, this is the third day in a row that we brought watermelon as our side for potluck... mostly by chance), and Jen made delicious pulled pork sandwiches.  It was a lot of fun.  I had a blast playing frisbee (or whatever those soft things were called) with Erika and Luke.  They both got really good at catching and throwing.  I loved watching the kids try to play baseball.  Makes me wish we were doing more of that on our own.  I like watching Nate play basketball too, he played a little with Chris.  Just before we were leaving I got to watch Charity play a little basketball with all the guys too.  She is pretty good and can hold her own pretty well.  I loved that they were totally talking her up and making her feel good, even though she may not have been as welcomed by some :). Nobody wants to be beat by a girl right?  We brought Sierra home with us for another sleepover and movie night.  7-5-13

STOWELL FAMILY REUNION
I'm gonna be so mad at myself for having not taken any pictures at the reunion this year, but it was a memorable year.  We went to Veterans Memorial park in West Jordan.  Kathy and Ernie were in charge of the reunion.  We ate, played a "Getting to know you" game, which I usually detest, but this one was bearable.  The kids got to play on the castle playground most of the time.  I was slightly bummed that they didn't have any kid games, but we survived ;).  I've always loved the Stowell reunion.  It was the highlight of my summer as a kid.  I love seeing everyone and catching up a little.  I was SO happy that Steve came.  He needs the family and I think those things are fun for him too, even though he pretends like he is forced to go.  He ran the auction for the first part of it before they got smart and switched to a silent auction (which, can I just say, I have mentioned almost every single year!!!!).  It just makes so much more sense to NOT spend the entire time we are together earning money for the next year's reunion.  I can't figure out why they want to do that, and I'm really trying to figure out what the money is even for!?  Luckily nobody reads this, I might get myself in trouble :).  Either way, it is a fun reunion and if I have to pay money to attend, then so be it :).  Charity and Kelly came out pretty good with some of the things they had wanted to buy, and I did get a super cute dress for Erika that Maija made.  I love it.  And I got the pleasure of watching Brent buy something that he was only trying to bring up the bid on for me.  That was priceless :).  Although, I would have loved snacking on the swedish fish the whole time.  The reunion ended ubruptly because it was time for the next reservation of the pavillion, and that was awkward, but overall, I had such a good time!!  7-6-13

Journaling Week of 6-23-13

WALK ABOUT
Our ward started doing walk abouts!  Just like our old ward.  I have really LOVED these with this ward!  We had our first one a couple weeks ago, and then this Sunday, we got to do it at our house!  We just had to provide some kind of refreshment for everyone as the walked past our house.  It was SO much fun.  We made chocolate chip cookies and rice krispie treats.  Kid friendly stuff :).  I loved that lots of people came.  Even people we didn't really know, came to introduce themselves. That was awesome.  Then we sat and visited with Gretchen and Michelle as she walked by.  I love this ward.   6-23-13

BRADLEY'S FHE LESSON
Bradley taught us about listening to the Spirit carefully with the game Telephone.  Everyone played except Erika, she watched.  I don't think she likes the feeling of whispering. He did a great job though and it was a good time had by all.  6-24-13

CHARITY THE TUTORER
This week was Charity's first week tutoring Cassidy.  Cassidy is an 8 year old girl in our ward.  Her Mom is concerned about her being able to keep up with her class when the Summer is over so she "hired" (I say "hired" lightly since Charity is doing it as a service, not for pay) Charity to come read with her and help her practice.  She's doing it on Tuesdays and Thursdays.  We found out after the first two that Cassidy just LOVES Charity and she was so relieved that Charity was nice :).  Cassidy's Mom kept telling me how cute it was that Charity would leave her notes on Cassidy's progress and stuff :).  I love that Charity has this opportunity and I'm proud that she's so good at it! 6-25-13

JETSKIING
Grandpa Hatch invited us all Jetskiing on Wednesday!  So Nate took work off and we all headed up to Pineview!  I had a blast hanging on to the back of the jetski with Bradley and my Dad as Brent attempted to get up on the child skis.  That was seriously insane!  I couldn't stop laughing long enough to tell my Dad to stop and then when I finally did, he thought it would be funny to drive real crazy, swerving back and forth.  I don't know how I stayed on!  I did not want my face hitting that water though.  Then the funniest part of all was when we flipped a really sharp U-ee, to turn around and get Brent, and the jetski just tipped right over!!!  My Dad, Bradley and I all went overboard!!  It was HILARIOUS!!!  And I'd tip the jet ski over a million times again, myself included, if it meant  getting my Dad soaking wet :)  That was funny.  Good times. 
Bradley and Charity both tried to get up on skis and weren't able to get up for more than a second, but did awesome trying!  I was proud of them for sticking with it as long as they did.  That's not easy to do.  Most of the kids took a turn on the hotdog.  It was fun being up there with Brent and Sarah and their boys and we were all glad when Steve and Jauslin showed up.  Lots of fun.  My only regret (a very BIG regret) is that I didn't get sunblock on my kids more than the first application when we got there.  They all got FRIED!!!  Bradley and Kelly even blistered!!  It was horrible.  Everytime I look at their little peeling faces I have this intense guilt that kicks in.  It's really bad.  And I feel REALLY bad.  I wish it didn't have to be so noticeable and that everyone didn't feel so inclined to talk about it.  It really just breaks my heart.  They've suffered so much.  NOT something I'm proud of.  I have repented and will do better next time.  No doubt about it.  But the jetskiing and playing in the sand and water, and visiting with everyone was definitely fun. 6-26-13

MANTI PAGEANT
We got to go to the Manti Pageant this year!  I think we missed a year or two, but generally, this has been a tradition of ours.  We had a lot of fun this time!  It never ceases to amaze me how helpful the kids are at getting ready to go (Even when I'm grouchy and losing interest in the plan), and then how well-behaved they are on road trips.  They did fantastic!  We had a lot of fun talking and I love hearing every one's entertainment... whether it's reading a book, playing with Nate's phone, or singing to the radio... everyone's good at entertaining themselves for the most part.  Good kids.  We did see a crashed airplane off to the side of the road.  The news station was still there capturing footage of them removing the plane from the ditch.  We weren't sure what had happened, but it didn't look good.  We found out later that 2 people had been in it, one died.  Sad.  I guess they had had mechanical failure.  It's weird to think about how quickly your life on this earth can end. 
We stopped at Subway (kind of tradtion) as we got close to Manti, and then Made our way up to the temple, got a great parking place, then a really good spot on the hill in the blanket section.  (Man, I wish they'd go back to having a larger blanket section.  The hill just isn't comfortable.  But I dislike sitting on the hard chairs too...)  We entertained ourselves with Down By The Banks, and some other hand games, snacks, and talking while Nate went back and forth to the car for various things we forgot, bathroom trips, and getting more yummies :)  They have some really good stuff at the little food court there.  Fun stuff.  The actual play is always fun to see.  I feel like it's shorter than it used to be and I feel like there is always something new that I didn't see before.  Not sure if it really is new, or if I just forgot.  I loved the part with the talk about the Constitution being written and George Washington praying.  Very applicable to my talk I was planning at the time.  Everyone was asleep by the time the play was over.  We contemplated just spending the night there on the hill ;).  But everyone walked back to the car with their stuff in tow.  They were groggy, but they made it :).  Everyone was peaceful and content on the ride home.  Including Jack.  It was really nice.  I love that time with our family together.  We talked a little about the anti stuff that really just bombards you as you are walking to and from the temple grounds.  It really surprises me that they find that those people want to spend their time doing that.  To each his own I guess, but it is really annoying.  It's nice to be able to explain to our kids those kinds of things.  To reaffirm our own testimonies to ourselves in the process.  Luke was especially concerned about one of the posters and he asked about it.  I was so glad that he asked and that he listened to the answer.  We got home around 2:00 and everyone crashed.  Good times.  6-27-13

RECOVERY
Friday was our day to recover from the previous 2 days.  Everyone was seriously wasted!  It was also my day to make Lilly Veenendaal's cake.  I was SO excited that Annie had asked me to make her a castle cake!  I stressed about it a lot because I wanted it to be perfect and I think I made mistakes because I was so stressy, but I think it turned out okay. 
Friday night, Charity babysat so that Nate and I could go out with Becky and Eric.  We went to Zupas and then to see Man of Steel.  I loved the movie, loved being out with Nate, and I loved spending time with Becky and Eric!  It's fun to live so close to them. 

SATURDAY
I am not sure how I survived Saturday, now that I look back on it.  Here's how it went:
First Kelly, Bradley, Jack and I got to deliver Lilly's cake to her.  I LOVED that I had an excuse to go see Annie and her new cute house.  She remains one of my dearest friends. I just love seeing her with her cute little girls and awesome husband (I'll never forget how he described Annie frantically cleaning up her house for the party and telling that she was asking him to do things all the while juggling things with her hands and a foot :) it was so cute!!  He just sounded so proud of her.  As he should.  I love that she found him.), she's done so well for herself! Of course she has, she's a Cole.  Everyone was all dressed in purple, cute hair, and clean faces... she's such a great Mom! I got to see a bunch of Annie's art too, she is SO talented! Kelly felt very inspired by her work I think, talking about the State Fair and what she will enter.  I love that.
After we took the cake, we dropped the table and benches off at the Holley's.  That was fun to see what they've done with their new house. 
Then the four of us went to Arby's.  I loved that.
After picking up the ingredients for our side (contribution to the dinner at Grandpa's for Dawn's Birthday), we decided that it would be a waste of time to go back home only to have to turn around and come back down to Bountiful, so we just went up to Grandpa's house early.  I got started on the Jalapeno Poppers and this is where my day went sour.  I got the juice from teh jalapenos on my hand.  My hand felt fine at first, I washed with soap and water and didn't think anything of them, as I've seen Nate do this a MILLION TIMES, and then all of a sudden, my hand was on fire!  It was seriously burning!  Started out a little mild, but then just went out of control.  I started trying different things to get it off of my hands  The milk didn't help, the oil didn't help (did some more research) found out that ice helps, so I got myself an ice pack.  The ice definitely took the burn away.  So I kept the ice on my hand for the rest of the time at my Dad's.  It was crazy how quickly it would burn when I would take the ice off.  I could feel my hand going numb from the ice, but I chose to ignore it because taking it off was too painful.  We stayed at my Dad's for quite a while, even after Nate had left for work, but I was starting to stress about the pain and wondered how long it was going to last.  I knew I needed to get rid of the pain in order to type my talk.  So I dragged everyone away from Grandpa's house and came home to do some more research and hopefully get some medical help for my hand.  I tried SO MANY different numbers for on-call nurses and such.  I can't believe how hard it is to get any kind of medical help on the phone.  I know why, but GEES!!!  It was SO frustrating.  All the while, I was trying to get my kids ready for Sunday, with baths and stuff, dinner.... ugh, it was just a nightmare with the pain.  I felt so bad about my behavior, but I was just not a happy mom.  I tried so many things on my hand.  Apple Cider Vinegar, milk (Again), baking soda, mustard, I kind of started to feel like these were all making it worse!  Thankfully, I was prompted to ask MaryLen, who really saved the day with her idea to call Poison Control.  I'm not sure why I didn't think of that, but thankfully she did!  I called and they said that most people have found soaking their hand in Mayo (not light Mayo, it has to be regular) was the best thing and usually got rid of the burning.  So I got all excited and then realized that all we had was Miracle Whip!!!  UGH!  I got desperate though, and thought maybe Miracle Whip would work, stuck my hand in it and just about died!  So then I got up the nerve to just call Becky and see if she had some Mayo I could borrow.  (I didn't have the card to go buy myself some at the store)  So I went and got that.  I was SO excited to do it and have the pain gone that I got the kids all together for scripture time and thought this would be a nice pleasant end to my evening.  Boy were we all surprised when I stuck my hand in there, only to have the most excruciating pain go surging through my body!!!  I could NOT believe how bad it hurt!!!  I decided I needed to stick it out htough, so screaming, and pretty much thrashing around (yes, in front of my kids... poor kids), I left my hand in the Mayo for what felt like an eternity.  It was probably only a few minutes.  But I was trying to keep it in there as long as I could.  I knew that poison control would call back and I wanted to be able to tell them that.  But I seriously thought I was going to die.  I had completely lost all sense of dignity and just bawled for like a half hour afterwards too.  It was bad.  I put the ice back on it and was able to get myself under enough control to get the kids in bed.  That was a big step.  They did good too, so that was a relief.  They were probably happy to go to bed.  Anyway.  A little later poison control called back.  They were shocked that the Mayo didn't help.  They asked a few more questions and concluded that I needed to go to the ER if not to fix it, to at least get some pain killers because the ice was "going to give me frostbite if I kept it on too long".  This was the first time I'd realized that maybe the ice had done more damage than good.  It occurred to me that this burn that started out on the side of my hand was now covering my entire hand... where I'd been holding the ice.  It was hard for me to admit it that maybe I'd done the unthinkable and used an ice pack improperly (darn first aid classes! I'm still embarrassed) and possibly caused a lot of the pain that way.  So my new plan was to take the ice off and try to slowly thaw my hand (assuming that was the problem.... which was still hard for me to admit, and then knowing that it might not be made it hard to continue with my plan because pain was not the route I wanted to take).  For the next 2 and a half hours I sat here with my hand just on fire!  It felt like I had taken a pan out of the oven with my bare hand, and couldn't let go of it.  I cannot express how bad it was!  I think I went into shock a little because I was shaking like crazy and felt dizzy at times, but I did pretty good at not putting the ice back on (I'll admit, I caved a few times).  I didn't want to warm it up too quickly but I did try running it under warm water. I stuck my hand in the stream of what my other hand had determined was a little cooler than luke warm and it felt like boiling water to the injured hand!!!  HOLY MOLY!!!  This was when I realized I really did have a problem on my hands (no pun intended).  So that really didn't work.  Then I decided I needed to just stick it out until Nate got home and could help me out.  I laid down on the couch and just kind of zoned out.  I was praying all day for help and for relief, but this was when my prayers got a little more desperate.  I was stressed about my talk still and thought that distracting myself with that might help, but I really couldn't do much.  I laid there and thought about some of my ancestors, people in my family who had been through a lot of pain (emotional and physical) Grandma Mottishaw, Nana, Sophronia Kelley, lots of them, and realized that what I was feeling, the pain and suffering from my hand, was minor.  It would eventually end, and I would be okay.  I knew that what they had been through was much worse and if they could live through that, then so could I.  I found so much strength in that!  It was perfect for my talk :).  They gave me help from their graves :).  Who knew.  I was able to stick out that forever long 2 1/2 hours until Nate got home.  When he came in I just hugged him!  It was such a relief to have him home!!!  I couldn't believe how much it helped to have him there.  And as I was showing him my hand and talking about the day, the pain just started melting away.  It was like I could feel the pain leave.  It was SO bizarre.  I made a few comments about it, and felt kind of silly telling Nate that it was all of a sudden better after he asked me if I wanted to go to the ER, but it really was!!  I laid back down on the couch and felt the pain almost completely leave!  It made me really tired. 
So we went to bed and just got up early in the morning to write our talks, and when I was thikning about this experience, the Spirit told me that the reason things got better right then, was because of the Priesthood.  Just having Nate here, was a blessing of the Priesthood.  I loved that.  It felt good.  The whole thing was just so weird, but I felt like that was the reason.  So to sum it all up, I got frost nip (not quite frost bite) on the hottest day of the year.  I'm just that awesome.  6-29-13

Journaling 6-16-13

CALLING-
Saturday, when Becky and Darren were here, we were talking about how we haven't received callings yet, and Becky said, "Well now you're going to get callings tomorrow because you were talking about it!" And she was right!  For Nate at least :).  As we were sitting in Sunday School, waiting for it to start, the Bishop came in and shook our hands and then asked if he could take Nate for a second.  I was so surprised that he didn't have me come too, I don't think we've ever received a call without the other one there, but whatever.  It was fun to hear what it was, and then they even sustained him right after that, in Sacrament Meeting, and then set him apart following the 3rd block.  He is the new Sunday School teacher for the 16 year olds!!  Wahoo!  I think this is going to be so much fun for him, and I"m really excited for the class to have Nate as their teacher!  Cool stuff!! Hopefully they weren't kidding when they said for me to not get too comfortable, because I like callings!!  I hope I get one soon :).  6-16-13

FAMILY HISTORY-
On Monday I got to go visiting teaching with my new partner for the first time.  The lesson she gave was on Family History and I got all motivated to get on the new Family Tree website.  Charity's been wanting to do some of it ever since that talk in Stake Conference too, so she and I sat down and looked at it a little on Monday.  We got stuck, setting up an account for her, but I think we'll be able to figure it all out another time.  But last night, Tuesday, I sat down myself to look at it and after only an hour or so, I was printing off the paper to take to the temple to do work for one of my ancestors!  I was so proud of myself.  Although, it was way too easy!  We'll see if I did it right, but I'm really excited to go to the temple and do the work for some of the people on my Grandpa's line!!  It's about 6 generations back, on the paternal line.  Pretty cool stuff.  I can't wait to do more!  6-18-13

SUMMER BREAK-
So I think we're starting to get the hand of Summer vacation.  I need to keep up on my Mom School stuff a little better, but I think I'm feeling more comfortable with it all.  It always takes a while to adjust to the new sitch.  I do the same thing when they go back to school.  I"m loving having everyone home though.  Nothing beats that!  We need to find some fun things to do, and get out more, do more crafts and have more fun, but we're getting there!  6-19-13

STAKE PRESIDENCY-
Tonight, we received a visit from the Elder's Quorum President along with a member of the Stake Presidency, President Facer.  It was such a nice and pleasant visit!  I loved it!  They both gave us their testimonies of Kaysville :).  It's so fun that everyone who lives here, loves it so much!  We really have loved it so far.  It's gonna be such a great place to raise our kids.  6-19-13

CAMP KEISL and CUB COUNTRY-
This week was Bradley's big day camp week.  Our new ward went up on Wednesday to camp Keisl.  It sounded like he had a really good time with all the new kids and that there was plenty to do.  Then on Friday and Saturday, he got to go up with our old ward.  They had already paid for Bradley, so they invited him to come back.  Nate went up with him on Saturday too, so that was fun.  I'll have to have Bradley write about his experience.... we'll see if he actually does :).

MYPHONE
Okay, so almost a month ago, I got my upgraded phone.  I had been due for an upgrade for a while now, and when I went on to look at the selection, there were not as many free ones as usual.  Apparently they really want me to upgrade too, because most of them were touch/smart phones.  I am somewhat anti-touch screen, although my Kindle has made me less of one.  So I scanned the selection carefully.  I really wasn't sure which one to get!  Then I noticed that the iphone 4 was FREE!!  WOW!  I've heard nothing but wonderful things from my Dad (whose opinion I trust more than most).  So I decided this was the most amazing deal ever!  And went with it.  Well.  I've LOVED the phone!  It does everything!!  I was able to keep such good track of my calendar, all my events, it has all my favorite games, all the fun things I could possibly want from a phone and I had a lot of fun customizing it to be exactly how I wanted.  I was so pleased with the ability to look up a new recipe on my pinterest board while I was at the store shopping for a different one that the store didn't carry ingredients for.  It totally saved me!  I really couldn't complain about it.  But after a while, the fact that I couldn't make or receive calls while in my own house, got somewhat annoying.  I started calling Sprint to find out what the deal was, and they didn't have too many answers for me.  They directed me to Apple.  So I called them and nothing they suggested was working.  So they told me to bring it in.  It was about this time, after talking with my Dad a little, that I realized, my battery was not holding a charge very well either.  So I decided to take it in. 
This is where the story gets annoying.  I spent about 2-3 hours, and this is at the City Creek Center where my kids and husband had to wander around entertaining themselves while I was stuck restoring my phone.  Only to have it not change things, and spending the next day, back down at the City Creek Center.  This time they replaced it.  I was relieved, but only until I got home and it was still behaving the same way.  I'm still not sure what is wrong with my phone.  I hope that Sprint will help me out with it.  It will be an even awesomer phone if I can actually use it as one while I am in my own house.  So anyway.  Long story short.  That is what we did on Friday and Saturday.  Luckily we were able to spend some time with my Dad and Steve to make up for the frustration.  And I was able to use my dad's computer.  It's funny how debilitating an "upgrade" can be.  Oh well.  6-22-13

I did it again!! Here's some more pictures:

BEAN BAG GAME 

Erika is into the cute stage of wanting to put on shows and performances, and organizing games for everyone and such, a stage that I will forever miss of Kelly and Charity's (although, they do still revert back to it every once in a while, which we love), and I am so happy to see that Erika is following in their footsteps in that regard.  This particular day she was wanting to do a bean bag game with everyone.  She was very strict and held them all under her control for a good 20 minutes at least. It's amazing how well they listen to her. That's what these next few pictures are from.



For some reason, this dumb thing is not letting me resize these pictures... so whatever... here they are... small...



MIDNIGHT AND LUKE:

Luke has had so much fun with his new kitty.  It's been a lot of fun to watch him with her.  She is super playful. 

I think I've said this before, but Buddy has been so good with the kittens.  It's been a nice suprise, and also very fun to watch.  He actually takes pretty good care of them and keeps tabs on them in the evenings.  He will chase them around and be playful with them, and then even cuddle with them when they're all sleepy, it's adorable really.

KELLY'S EARLY PRESENT:

These are all the pictures that go with my posts about Kelly's birthday.  She was so cute, unveiling her bike.  I wonder if she knew what it was???

THE DAY OF:

The morning of.  All ready to open presents, it looks like :)  Good thing we had Stake Conference, an extra hour to get ready!

Even Jack is happy about Kelly's birthday :)

I look at these pictures and I can hardly believe my little baby Kelly is 10!!! 

New wallet from Charity

Cute figurine from Bradley

 Noah gave her a key chain with a kitty on it :)

awww, my handsome Lukey!

A journal from Luke.  These guys know Kelly so well.

Jack got her a ball

I just love this picture of Erika :)  She is such a big girl these days as well.

awww.  Love it.

An ORANGE waterbottle... perfect.

I love that my kids have each other. 

This was everyone doing a special "happy birthday" for the last present from everyone (I seem to have misplaced the one of her opening the cute dress we gave her)

my seven dwarfs :)

Kelly is doing the no sweets thing, so we did not do a cake on her birthday.  Instead, we let her blow out her candles in a tub of yogurt :). 

A shot of the lazy animals all cuddled up together.  You can barely tell there are kittens in this picture.  Midnight is down by his tail, and Misty is up in his front paws.  Funny pets.

KELLY'S FAMILY PARTY:

These are the pictures from Kelly's family party. 

She and her cousin Sierra, still look a little alike.  Cute girls.

We had a really good turn out!  I was so happy about that.  I'm missing the one of Nate's parents.  What did I do wrong during the upload!?

THE LAST DAY OF SCHOOL!!!

We were only there for 1 month, but I think Columbia gets a big stamp of aproval from the Maynes family.  We were very pleased with how the school ran, the teachers, the office people ESPECIALLY, and with all the fun new friends.  It's something to look forward to when the summer is over.  And that is a good thing.

I was able to get a few pictures the last day of school.  Unfortunately, there is only one of me, so we didn't get to Mrs. Featherstone quickly enough.  So none of Charity with her.  Bummer. 



Kelly with Mr. Flynn

My big school kids!  I'm so happy to have them home with me!!!

Mrs. Bradford and Lukey

Mrs. Sorenson and Bradley

SUMMER HERE WE COME!!!

KELLY'S FRIEND PARTY:

Our fun cake!  I LOVE that we made it together!

NOAH AT THE BLUE PARK:

This was during my Mom's party at Bountiful Park.  Noah and Bradley were being buds.  This is what happens when one of the boys is gone.  Three is sometimes a crowd, so when there's only two, they have no choice but to be friends and get along.  So anyway.  Bradley was cheering him on and talking up how well he could do these bars.  It was cute that he even took the camera to get a picture.  Fun brother.

CHARITY USING MY CAMERA WITHOUT PERMISISON: haha.. just kidding.  I thought this was a cool picture to find when uploading :).  My new mirror too :)- thanks Tara!

THE BAKE SALE:

I'm glad my kids like to do this kind of thing.  They got Gabe in on it as well :).  I couldn't believe how much work Charity and Kelly put into this though.  First Charity and Grandma Hatch made Chocolate Chip Cookies.  You should have heard them in the kitchen together... it was hilarious!  Grandma needs some cookie baking classes from Charity apparently :).  Then Charity made some Brownies.  Kelly made some Banana Bread.  They both made all of it mostly on their own!  With very little help from me.  I was SO proud of them!!  They really are growing up and becoming so independent.  It's nice to see that they are picking up the things I'm teaching them too :).  I think they made a little money in the process as well. 

LUKE ON THE BIKE!!!!:

We finally talked Luke into riding his bike without training wheels.  He had gotten to teh point where he was too embarrassed to ride with the training wheels, but too scared to learn how wihtout.  But he gave it a shot, and actually only a few minutes after starting, he was off on his own!  I couldn' tbelieve how quickly he picked it up!  Well, I shouldn't say that, because I knew he would pick it up fast, I guess I was just glad I was right :).  Look at him go!

Buddy's watching him from a tied down distance.  Naughty dog, has to chase the kids on their bikes.

Not entertaining enough for Jack Jack. 

Actually, we had just gotten back from a nice, relaxing walk around the neighborhood, just Jack, Nate and I.  It was a lot of fun, meeting a few new neighbors as we went. 

Jack konked out on the way home.

FATHER'S DAY!!

We had a really nice Father's day this year. 

This is about the 5th year we've done the shirt thing and I FINALLY remembered to get a picture.  We always have the kids put the shirt they got Nate on themselves to give it to him. 

Kelly is wearing the swim suit she picked out, on her head.  Nice :). 

They all gave Nate their gifts after feeding him a delectable plate of bacon pancakes and eggs and bacon for breakfast in bed!!

Nate loves this part.  THey all put so much thought into their gifts, it's a lot of fun. 

And after church, I actually remembered to get a picture of everyone with Daddy!  None of them turned out how I had hoped, but hey, everyone's looking at the camera in at least one of them, so I guess it works :).

Before Nate had to go to work, we sang our Kiss song for him and then pelted him with kisses.  Lots of fun. 

We spent the rest of the day up at Grandpa's to celebrate with him, Dawn and her family, and Steve and Jauslin, over a nice Sloppy Joe dinner :).  Fun stuff.